coronavirus era grocery store
photo by Travis Sacher

NJ curfew enacted; NY, CT, MA, IL, CA & WA closing bars & restaurants amid coronavirus

Starting Tuesday (3/17), music venues, nightclubs, and bars will be shut down in NYC, and restaurants, bars and cafes will be limited to providing take-out service, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday morning that NY will be entering into a joint regional agreement with New Jersey and Connecticut, as well, to limit crowd capacities to 50, close gyms, casinos, and movie theaters, and restrict restaurants throughout the three states to take out service. More from his Twitter:

#BREAKING: NY, CT and NJ are taking joint regional action to reduce the spread of #COVID19:

Effective 8PM TONIGHT:

-Crowd capacity reduced to 50
-Restaurants/bars will be takeout/delivery ONLY
-Gyms closed
-Movie theaters closed
-Casinos closed

The #Coronavirus doesn’t care about state borders, so this agreement with @GovNedLamont & @GovMurphy will help protect the entire Tri-State Area.

These temporary closures will last as long as is necessary to protect the public health.

Grocery stores will remain OPEN.

Our primary goal is to slow the spread of #Coronavirus so that the wave doesn’t crash our healthcare system. Social distancing is the best way to do that.

I have called on the federal gov’t to implement nationwide protocols, but in their absence we are taking this on ourselves.

NJ Governor Phil Murphy is also recommending a statewide curfew NorthJersey.com reports, saying that residents shouldn’t go out between 8 PM and 5 AM. “Everyone needs to stay in and be safe,” he said in a phone call with Cuomo and CT Governor Ned Lamont. “And we can’t say this enough, that everyone needs to stay in and be safe and just because you don’t feel sick, and this is a particular shout-out to our young people, it doesn’t mean you aren’t carrying the virus. And the last thing that anyone should be thinking about is going out and spreading the disease.”

As CNN reports, many other states are taking similar measures to attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine implemented restrictions on bars and restaurants starting on 9 PM on Sunday (3/15), limiting them to takeout and delivery service.

In California, Governor Gavin Newsom asked for bars and breweries to temporarily close their doors, and restaurants to halve their capacity, Los Angeles Times reports, while LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said that bars, nightclubs, movie theaters, and gyms in the city must close beginning on Sunday night. As they are elsewhere, restaurants are to shift to takeout and delivery only.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf ordered the closure of the dine-in areas at restaurants in five of the state’s counties, CNN reports, for at least fourteen days beginning Monday (3/16).

In Illinois, Governor J.B. Pritzker placed dining-in restrictions on the states’ bars and restaurants beginning at the end of the business day Monday, running until March 31.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker revised the state’s previous mass gathering ban, which called for gatherings of 250 people or more to not be allowed, to ban gatherings of 25 people or more. He also enacted restrictions on dining inside restaurants and bars like those in other states.

Governor Jay Inslee is closing bars and restaurants in Washington state, with takeout and delivery still allowed, and banning gatherings of 50 people or more.

This is a developing story; stay tuned updates.